


Handplates: If They’re Clones, Why Do They Have Different Personalities?

by ArgentDandelion



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Handplates (Undertale), Analysis, Biology, Character Analysis, Clones, Gen, Genetics, Nonfiction, Science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2020-09-28 08:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20422640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentDandelion/pseuds/ArgentDandelion
Summary: Explains how Sans and Papyrus (of Handplates) can have such different personalities from W.D. Gaster of the same work if they're his clones.





	Handplates: If They’re Clones, Why Do They Have Different Personalities?

(From [this](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/160856429497/previous-next-i-really-hate-having-to-break) Handplates comic)

In [Zarla-s’](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/)s highly influential _Undertale_ comic, _[Handplates](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the)_, the royal scientist W.D. Gaster created his test subjects, 1-S (Sans) and 2-P (Papyrus) by cutting out tissue samples from his hands and growing them in big tubes.

Since the two were made from his tissue samples, they are logically his clones. Yet, they look too different from Gaster and each other to be proper clones. Indeed, Gaster’s test subjects don’t even act that much like him.

Why?

It’s actually plausible Gaster and his clones would behave differently. Different life experiences can make clones act very differently, so differences magnify over time. Gaster is also much older than Sans and Papyrus, so of course he’d act different.

What’s more important is how Sans and Papyrus differ from each other. It didn’t take years for their behavior to change: they act differently even when first removed from the gestation tubes.

According to Gaster, Papyrus whined and cried constantly. When his limb detached, he froze, panicked, and screamed, starting to cry when Gaster got closer.[1](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fn:1)  
In contrast, Sans was quiet and moved around and investigated his cell, apparently trying to find a way to escape. When he noticed Gaster, Sans was still quiet. He backed up against a wall as Gaster approached and then rattled his bones (which Zarla-s [likens](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/137520291851/a-lot-of-people-wanted-to-see-gaster-meeting-up) to a scared kitten poofing itself up).

Why do they act so different? It’s for the same reason that, despite identical gestation, they have such different statures, body shapes and face shapes.

It’s the fact Gaster is two people.

## Gaster is Two People??!

Strictly speaking, he’s not. Rather, he may be a chimera.

Chimeras are made from two cell lines that work as a single, composite organism. Think of mules: if a horse’s cells are red and a donkey’s are blue, mule cells are purple. A horse-donkey chimera, however, has both blue and red cells.

Chimeric animals can behave in way that’s intermediate to their components: chimeras of wild, jumpy Ryukyu mice and tame lab mice show a mix of behavioral traits. In humans, chimeras (formed my fraternal twins merging as embryos) is often undetectable at a glance, or shows only subtle visible signs.

Sans and Papyrus grew from bone pieces taken from Gaster’s left and right hands, respectively. It’s possible each hand was mostly made of one identical-looking cell line, and only when the samples had to form bodies largely of one line did phenotype differences show up.

## Temperament

(Image composite from [two](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/137520291851/a-lot-of-people-wanted-to-see-gaster-meeting-up) [comics](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139085036751/previous-at-the-same-time-next-ominous). Credit to Zarla-s.)

> **“The two of them differ strikingly in temperament. One docile, one hostile.”**   
(Gaster even uses the word “temperament”.)

If Gaster is a chimera, it would explain their basic behavioral differences, too.

Babies do not have personalities, exactly. Rather, they have “temperaments”, genetically-determined precursors to personalities. For Gaster’s clones, temperament differences showed up within just seven hours of decanting.  
Papyrus was very loud and constantly made noise, while Sans was quiet to the point Gaster figured he was incapable of speech. While both panic when Gaster gets closer and when their limbs detach, and also start crying during these events, only Sans is [described](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/138250929201/previous-next-dont-have-a-crisis-of) [as](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/138763513185/previous-next-finally-just-as-promised)“wary”.

Similarly, the list of introverted and extroverted traits on Wikipedia matches up well with Sans’ and Papyrus’ behavior. It’s possible one of Gaster’s cell lines (or SOUL lines[2](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fn:2)?) increases the likelihood of introverted behavior, while another increases the likelihood of extroverted behavior. Combined, the two end up as a mix, though in Gaster introversion dominates.[3](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fn:3)

However, there’s a caveat: it’s impossible to know this for certain without seeing Gaster’s behavior in similar situations as a baby. Another caveat is their accelerated growth in the tubes: this affected how capable (i.e., they could walk) his clones were, and potentially their confidence in new situations.

* * *

  1. To be fair, when Sans’ arm falls off later he acts much like Papyrus, but Papyrus quickly re-attaches it. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fnref:1)

  2. In some works, monsters reproduce using their SOULs. Yet, in _Handplates_, Gaster doesn’t use his SOUL: just bone pieces. (Though a strange inter-dimensional being [claims](https://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/160856429497/previous-next-i-really-hate-having-to-break) they have pieces of his SOUL anyway.) This brings up some interesting questions, but the point is that, if monster behavior comes from their SOULs and they act like him, some aspect of SOULs might be inherited. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fnref:2)

  3. Caveat: technically, very few people are pure extroverts or introverts. People are called those terms if they have mostly introverted or extroverted traits. [↩︎](https://argentdandelion.tumblr.com/post/183250607759/handplates-if-theyre-clones-why-do-they-have#fnref:3)


End file.
